University of Hong Kong professor of local culture hits all the right notes as Canto-pop historian
- Stephen Chu has spent decades learning the words of city’s popular music
- He recently co-edited a volume of lyrics included in local literature collection
Pop music aficionados of a certain age surely remember the days of flipping through album notes to learn all the words to their favourite songs.
It was a real downer when records – especially rare albums – were found at long last only to have the lyric sheet missing.
Enter Stephen Chu Yiu-wai, a University of Hong Kong professor and music lover whose decades-long preservation of Canto-pop lyrics has earned him a nomination for a Spirit of Hong Kong Award.
The annual awards, co-organised by the Post and property developer Sino Group, honour the achievements of remarkable people whose work may sometimes go unnoticed.
Hong Kong Stories, a non-profit storytelling organisation, recommended Chu for this year’s Spirit of Culture Award, which honours individuals who inspire others to preserve and celebrate Hong Kong’s heritage and traditions.
For the 53-year-old Chu, who has written extensively on Hong Kong culture and music, that means learning and recording the lyrics to popular Cantonese songs.
“For some less familiar lyrics, the only chance I had for checking the text in the pre-internet age was to try my luck at RTHK’s physical collection,” Chu said, referring to the city’s public broadcasting service founded in 1928.
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Chu, the director of the university’s Hong Kong Studies programme, said he sometimes stayed for hours in the broadcaster’s archive room to conduct his research.
“I couldn’t check the records out because I wasn’t a staffer, so I had to copy all the texts by hand,” he said.
Chu was quick to point out that researchers were not armed with smartphone cameras in the mid-1990s.
I felt so lost whenever I found a record I wanted – and it had no lyric sheet
“I could do nothing. I felt so lost whenever I found a record I wanted – and it had no lyric sheet.”
He said it was often difficult to get access to the historical audio or textual material kept by companies in Hong Kong.
“Sometimes you have to seek help from some serious individual collectors,” Chu said.
Even so, Chu sees the value in studying Hong Kong culture and he urges researchers not to flinch at the challenges of data collection and other difficulties.
Chu, a big fan of Canto-pop songs from the 1970s, 80s and 90s, has promoted the city’s popular culture through guest lectures and serving as judge in song writing contests.
His most recent contribution was a co-edited volume of Canto-pop lyrics that was included in a collection of local literature.
Some aspects of Hong Kong culture, according to Chu, transcend national boundaries – such as Bruce Lee’s kung fu films – and had been accepted around the world.
It’s not always easy: Chu said it bothered him that the study of Hong Kong culture was sometimes disrespected by academic authorities.
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He also bristled at the lack of government support in developing young talent in the local music and film industries. He pointed to regional rivals such as Korea, which has built concert venues, provided training and improved technology to make it easier to enjoy the country’s pop music.
“The Hong Kong government should adopt policies to boost progress in the local cultural and creative industries – just like the Korean government did for K-pop,” Chu said.
